As the hail claims continue to mount in Texas, the home insurance companies have begun to find new ways to lower the cost of those claims. We've seen deductible amounts be increased, partial claim payouts on roofs rather than totaling them, and even moving to actual cash value as roofs reach certain ages. All of this is done in an attempt to reduce both the frequency of the claims and the severity of the cost of the claims.
One of the things that Texas homeowners have begun to do as they do roof replacements after the latest hail storm is to upgrade to a metal roof instead of a shingle. Your insurance carrier will love it if you do since it is not as prone to hail damage when those storms roll through.
But metal roofs come with insurance claim stipulations that you need to understand as a homeowner. There are cosmetic damage exclusions that can change how your policy responds to a claim for roof damage.
So what do you need to know before storm damage impacts your home?
If you rewind to the late 90's and very early 2000's, North Texas Homeowners began to take advantage of a loophole that they uncovered in their home insurance policies. They determined that when they made a claim for hail damage on their home, that the home insurance companies would cut them a check as a settlement for the claim.
In this scenario, the homeowner would receive the full replacement cost value of the items that were decidedly damaged like the roof and gutters. While waiting their turn to get the repair done, the homeowner subsequently was able to figure out that the roof was not leaking and then pocketed the check. Not a bad windfall of several thousand dollars they thought.
However, there are some slight problems with this. Mostly that not repairing the damage prevents further insurability. The home insurance companies began combating this in various ways. One of which was trying to determine what really had to be replaced. This was true for roof damage to either traditional shingles or metal roofs.
This led to covering only structural damage prone to failure and including cosmetic damage exclusions in policy language where storm and hail damage left those pesky dings in your roof.
The knight in Monty Python and The Holy Grail boldly proclaims "it's only a flesh wound" while his body was spurting blood all over the screen. The insurance carriers aren't trying to make property damage to your home seem like this scene from an all time great movie.
What they are trying to do is decide if you only have surface level damage where your roof or other items like gutters still have structural integrity. Many of us still drive our car even if it has a ding in the door, so this makes sense.
The homeowners insurance policies of many companies now include a provision that excludes replacement of items that are only cosmetically damaged. The question always becomes how does my homeowners insurance policy details determine what is and what is not that little ding?
Gutters are easy to spot. They take shots of hail and become dented. But since a dent does not prohibit the gutters ability to shuttle water to the desired location, it is deemed to be cosmetic damage only.
Roof damage is much tougher to determine for the adjuster. For metal roofs or roof flashing, they are looking for cracks, abrasions, or splits that will allow water to penetrate below the roof surface. For hail damage to shingle roofs, the process will be more complex. The adjuster will be looking for the frequency of strikes along with the depth of the impact. Claim denials do happen when there aren't enough impacts that compromise the structural integrity of those impacts.
This step of the roof surfacing evaluation and application of these cosmetic exclusions can save the home insurance company thousands of dollars per claim, but also frustrate a homeowner who can't spot the difference. This is where public adjusters generally get hired to help a disgruntled Texas homeowner sort it out.
The best answer is it depends. If you have elected to put a metal roof on your home, you will have cosmetic damage exclusions. They have been there for a long time and that is not changing. But you will have lower insurance premiums!
For a shingle roof, there are still homeowners insurance companies operating in Texas that do not have this exclusion built into their policies. These companies are dwindling in number, but it is still possible. Just realize that you won't be getting a premium discount with the exclusion removed.
It's definitely important to review the policy forms and conditions with your local independent insurance agent to determine if this can affect you and your home. An experienced insurance agent can sit down and cover the nitty gritty details of your Texas home insurance policy. This can include discussions about cosmetic exclusions and also what is known as limited matching for siding and roofing.
If you don't know what your policy says, click the button below to get True Texas Home Insurance. We work with the best companies that are working on behalf of Texans.
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